Fix This Broken Boulevard
by LeonaWriter
Summary: The morning after the Knightmare heist, Hakuba Saguru makes a decision and goes with the truth. After all, the truth is what a detective aims for, and the Kaitou Kid has never aimed to have anyone hurt...
1. Fix This Broken Boulevard

Fix This Broken Boulevard

AN: Thought this up when I'd been colouring in the Knightmare story Omake for Magic Kaito. Remembered how in Ocianne's Promenade story there was a sort of epilogue and aftermath to the whole thing, but nothing I'd seen otherwise or even in canon after that night. After realising that the Promenade version wouldn't work out of Promenade, I came up with this.

----

The morning after the Knightmare heist, a nightmare in more ways than just one, Hakuba Saguru went back to Ekoda High.

As expected, Kuroba was in his seat, head on desk, snoring. Shortly after he entered the room, Aoko-kun woke the sleeping magician up with a well-placed elbow. He could almost find it within himself feel sorry for the other at the startled yelp of pain before Kuroba had properly woken up.

The teacher hadn't arrived yet, it still being a few minutes until class actually began. Koizumi was likewise absent, in all probability aiming to amaze the rest of the male student population once more by being 'fashionably' late. . . again. One of her few failings, in Saguru's opinion, apart from that strange delusion she had about being a witch, no matter what Kuroba ad to say on the matter of magic.

And speaking of magic, Kuroba still had yet to perform even one magic trick.

He was getting strange looks from people other than himself and Aoko-kun, as well. Likely due to the fact that Kuroba was well known as a Kid fan – Kid's biggest fan, in fact – and there had been a death at the heist last night. It didn't help that Nakamori had bungled up the cause of death, either.

Saguru sighed. He hoped that this didn't end up with his looking a fool, for whatever reason.

Standing up, he walked over to Kuroba's desk. Leaned over ever so slightly.

"You know, he said clearly, "it's my opinion that Nakamori-keibu was wrong."

The entire class' attention was immediately on him, especially Aoko-kun's, since he was talking about her father.

"What're you going on about, Hakuba-kun?"

"The heist last night. I was there, remember? I simply thought that Kuroba-kun here," and here the thief twitched at the sound of his name, "would appreciate the fact that I don't believe the Kid the kind of person – thief or not – to willingly let anyone die on his watch."

At this, Kuroba didn't just twitch – he full out jerked his head upward, violet eyes widening in undisguised shock.

"But – I thought you were supposed to be chasing, uh, him."

One of Saguru's eyebrows rose.

"Catching and in the meantime chasing, yes. But I also would hope to think that I can make my own deductions on certain things as well."

Aoko-kun's mouth opened into a slight _oh_. That is, before she was dragged away against her will by Keiko-kun, who had just entered the room.

Immediately, Kuroba's eyes sharpened in a familiar way.

"All right, spill it. What was all that about, Hakuba?"

"Exactly what I said. If I'm right, then you did your best. There was nothing else you could have done, Kuroba."

For a moment neither said anything, Kuroba closing his eyes tight and looking away.

"I didn't do it," the magician said a last, looking back with his gaze intense – almost pleading, if Saguru could ever say he knew to recognise that kind of look on the other's face.

"I know," was all Saguru could say in reply before the bell for class rang and the teacher came in.

He couldn't understand, later on, why Koizumi kept shooting both himself and Kuroba strange looks throughout the day.

Perhaps there was something on his face. Or maybe Kuroba had turned his hair a strange and interesting colour again.

If he were being honest with himself, he would be able to say that he didn't understand.

If, however, he was being _completely_ honest, he might just say that he wasn't sure that he _wanted_ to understand, either.

----

AN: I hope peoples like ^_^ It even includes tiny hints of Hakako...

The title refers to the two songs 'Fix You' by Coldplay and 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' by Green Day. I don't own the song, btw. Like it much, though.

_I walk a lonely road/ The only one that I have ever known/ Don't know where it goes/ But it's home to me and I walk alone  
I walk this empty street/ On the Boulevard of Broken Dreams/ Where the city sleeps/ and I'm the only one and I walk alone_

_My shadow's the only one that walks beside me/ My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating/ Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me/ 'Til then I walk alone  
I'm walking down the line/ That divides me somewhere in my mind/ On the border line/ Of the edge and where I walk alone_

_Read between the lines/ What's f***ed up and everything's alright/ Check my vital signs/ To know I'm still alive and I walk alone. . ._

If anyone thinks I've just written out too many of the lyrics, or has a problem with me using them, tell me and I'll take some or all of them off. Don't just report me. I thought that they fitted for the fic, but I don't like putting lyrics into stories (it breaks up the flow).


	2. Dream Catch Me

Fix This Broken Boulevard

Chapter Two – Dream Catch Me When I Fall

AN: I know, I know. I'd set this as complete. Now it's a three-shot.

-----

When it came right down to it, in the end it wasn't a stray sniper's bullet or even Nakamori or one of his beloved detectives that had brought the Kaitou Kid down.

No, it wasn't any of these. It was, instead, his own blasted fault. His own blasted fault that he had let himself be affected by the Knightmare heist that much. His own blasted fault that he had been so distracted that, the previous night, he hadn't been able to rest properly, images from his last heist the previous month returning to the fore of his mind with even the slightest provocation enough to bring everything rushing back.

He had to admit to himself even if he didn't say a thing to anyone else, that he had had to force himself to make the plans and finally wear the white this time. The associated memories had almost been too much. . . except that the memories and goals associated with the white suit were stronger.

Stronger, even, than the pain that had still been in his ankle from just earlier that day, when, overtaken by fatigue, he had twisted his foot. He had only hoped at the time and later on that Hakuba – who had been looking on as it had happened – hadn't noticed. It would only mean that, if he appeared to not be on top form that night, Hakuba would have that little bit of extra evidence against him. Which he really didn't need.

So the heist had gone on as per usual, for the most part. He hadn't thought that anyone had noticed him favouring his foot. He had mostly achieved this by playing the jumping bean and staying off of his feet and in the air as much as possible, but the rest had been the simple-sounding but harder to put into action plan of just ignoring the pain and going on with the show.

The heist had been going so well. It really had. One minute, he had been running up the fire escape, Task Force and Hakuba in tow, and it wasn't taking them all long to get up and out onto the roof. One unlocked emergency exit door later, and they were in the cold, biting winds of the outside world, causing him to bite down a curse at how much more his ankle had hurt when exposed to the cold, forcing himself to act as normal and evade his favourite detective more than usual, even. It hadn't taken him long to understand that he wasn't going to do well for himself staying where he was – there wasn't enough space, and he was handicapped.

He had headed off towards the roof edge with the appearance of gleeful abandon, desperation hidden behind his Poker Face.

And then. . . then, his body had refused to do as his mind had told it to and switch feet for take-off, causing him to stumble, fumble as he left the roof, and in his rising panic he couldn't get anything else into his mind other than the thought that this must have been what it would have been like for Connery-san, as he had fallen to his death.

---

Hakuba Saguru had been worried ever since he had seen Kuroba stumble in school, the magician's Poker Face unable to mask the slightest wince when his foot had gone down wrong during a trick, while he had been bouncing off of the walls. Saguru wouldn't really have taken any more note actually, if not for the fact that Kuroba hadn't been seen bouncing off of any more walls, even if he did deny having hurt himself in any way.

_One of the more irritating things about him being a consummate magician_, Saguru had grumbled to himself later on, _is that he never admits that anything is wrong at all, even if happens to be obvious_.

So later on at the heist, he had kept an eye out on the Kid for any strange behaviours. Which, he had been almost horrified to find, had been there. All too many of them. So that, he was sure, at this rate Kuroba would be limping the next time he appeared at school. Bouncing off of the walls in a way similar to that which he had avoided doing earlier that day and Poker Face becoming more and more fixated as the night wore on, by the time they reached the roof, gem in the Kid's possession, he was sure that the thief had to be in an immense amount of pain.

He could say that for the Kid, and Kuroba – he certainly had a high pain threshold.

A threshold that evidently hadn't been high enough, he soon realised, when the Kid spent far less time playing with the Task Force than he usually would, and went rapidly for the roof's edge, leaving Nakamori abruptly without his chaotic opponent.

Everyone's breath was taken from them less than a moment later, when everything happened too fast, and the Kid stumbled in his footing as he made to leap off of the roof, glider not snapping open like it usually would.

Without thinking, Saguru was on his way over to the outer fire escape, and not for the first time thankful that he wasn't in the least afraid of heights.

"Damn it, Kid – open the bloody glider!"

For one cursed moment, it seemed like he hadn't been heard, silence meeting his ears – apparently the Task Force were keeping quiet for once – until, blessed heaven above, he had never heard such a good sound before as the snapping of taught fabric against screeching metal. Good. There might have to be a crash landing now, due to the way that the glider had been opened and the state of mind of the thief at the moment, but at least that was better than no hope for the thief at all.

Distantly, he heard his radio go off as the Inspector finally started to mobilise his men and the officers still on the surrounding streets to keep an eye on Kid's trajectory as he came down.

He ignored it, heading off in the direction that he knew from experience that the Kid would actually be in – that is to say, the exact opposite direction from where the Task Force officers were searching in.

Luckily, he didn't have far to run. Just around a few buildings and into an alleyway, and there the idiot was, still luminescent in white, leaning heavily against the wall, one leg hovering above the ground. In the quiet of the middle of the night, Kid's heavy breathing was easily heard.

Not wanting to be seen by anyone smart enough to have possibly followed him by accident or design, he darted into the alley.

"Stay there," he panted out. "Don't move. Just. . . let me get there."

The Kid didn't even try to run, only turning his head to look in Saguru's general direction. If nothing else, this only helped to ease along his panic, because there should be no way that the Kid would willingly just wait there for a detective to catch up to him, injured or not. Therefore, there had to be more to this than simply what he had witnessed tonight.

"Yo. . . Tantei-san," came the laboured response. He laughed, but unlike Kid's normal unnerving laugh this one was laced with pain and discomfort. "I suppose that now you've found me like this, you'll be taking me in."

"That all depends on you, and what you say," Saguru said coldly. "First, I want to know why you went ahead with this heist even though you knew you weren't at your best – I saw you earlier today, and that's the same foot you hurt then, so don't try to tell me that I have my facts wrong. Then, I need you to tell me what spooked you out so badly that you _forgot to open the glider_."

Kid looked over at him again, seemingly unfazed by the fact that Saguru had come closer still. Instead, he merely showed mortified, baffled surprise. After a moment, he let his head fall back down once more with another short huff of laughter.

"Koizumi told me not to do this one," came the low reply, so quiet that Saguru almost thought that he had misheard – and not least because he had named a person from his and Kuroba's own class, but also because the voice that the other had been using had slipped almost into Kuroba's easier tones, but not completely free of Kid's suave and sophisticated ones.

He didn't say anything, waiting stubbornly for the thief to answer his questions properly.

"I thought I told you a long time ago," Kid said tautly, "that it should be your job to figure out why I do what I do."

"You did say that when we first met, yes," Saguru allowed, "but even accounting for that, you still haven't accounted for the second part of my question."

"I – I . . ." Kid paused, and just at that that moment a police siren sounded, growing closer and closer and making both of their hearts stop for a small eternity until it disappeared once more, and Saguru cursed the Kid – cursed Kuroba – for making him feel like a guilty accomplice already, even though he hadn't even done anything yet.

It was the 'yet' that he was worried about. He didn't like the word, and yet it kept on reappearing whenever he wanted it the least, much like the Kid himself.

Saguru sighed, irritated and angry at himself. He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming along.

"Keep that thought. I'll assume for now that you would find it hard to change into anything more inconspicuous for now. Here," he said, shrugging off his Inverness, which he had only worn to the heist because it had been starting to get colder and he had forgotten to bring any other kind of winter coat to Japan. "Wear this. It should be long enough to hide most of the day glow white." He walked around to Kid's other side. "Here – lean on me. If we go out looking like this, everyone should simply assume that we're a couple of drunkards," he explained dryly, with a bit of sarcasm in for good measure.

He wasn't unaware of the look of distrust and confusion that the Kid was sending his way, especially when he moved to take off the thief's hat.

"_Not that_," Kid growled possessively.

"Yes, that," he said, pointing out the obvious in as gentle a way as he could. "I'm afraid that the hat would only serve to make it easier to find us and figure out who you are, and if they did that, then I would be implicated. I'd rather not have that," he said plainly.

Kid snorted, but took the hat off himself, along with the monocle, while Saguru politely looked straight ahead. Both were quickly replaced by a dark black baseball cap that hid his eyes almost as well as the top hat and monocle had done.

"All right," he said after they'd walked a few blocks already, "where is it you're taking me, then? Police station?"

Saguru snorted.

"As if you'd stay there more than five seconds if I tried. No, I'm taking you over to the Hakuba estate. That way, you're within my grasp if I decide that I don't like whatever explanation you give me – and believe me, you _are_ giving me an explanation – or, if I do think that despite everything you're worth listening to, it would be a good place to not be noticed, seen as how big it is. Not to mention that it does happen to be my home," he added dryly.

"There, huh?" Kid asked with a laugh. "No trouble there, I suppose. . ."

Saguru frowned. That wasn't exactly how he had imagined the thief reacting, even with the informed idea that Kuroba had been able to get a hold of the blueprints for his home, and the fact that he was sure that Kuroba'd also broken in at least once or twice to scout the place out since he'd moved to Japan permanently. Not that he or any of the house staff would ever have been able to tell; it was only a hunch, after all.

The rest of the way back passed with hardly a word between them, except for the one time when Kid had thought to try his luck with his foot, only to nearly collapse when the ankle gave way.

He got them into the Hakuba estate easily enough, dumped Kuroba – it was easier to recognise him as his classmate in the brighter lights of his home, awaiting his arrival back from the heist, despite the ridiculous getup the other was wearing and the cap that he had refused to take off – in the library, knowing that not only was it the room at the centremost point of the building, but also somewhere that had both something to keep the magician entertained and somewhere that one could put both feet up on in the form of a sofa or two.

After that, he went off to get some icepacks and enough painkillers to see Kuroba through the night. He returned to find the thief in the exact same spot he had left him in, unsurprisingly still awake and aware.

"All right, Kuroba," he said tiredly, handing the other the ice and putting a glass of water and the painkillers on the floor, right by Kuroba's head. "Explain. I'm not even asking you for your reasons. Only that you don't try and convince me that you aren't who you are for the moment, and that you tell me what happened out there to make you lose control like that."

Kuroba seemed to shiver before curling up, tensing.

"Please. _Tell_ me. I can't help you if you don't tell me. And yes, don't look at me like that. I _do_ want to help you."

For a while, Kuroba stared at him, obviously as confused about the situation as he was. He hadn't even touched either the water or the painkillers.

"You're a detective," he said plainly, as though speaking to a young child who didn't yet understand the difference between right and wrong. "I'm a thief. Explain to me why you would want to help me in any way that wouldn't involve me finding myself behind bars will you, Tantei-san?"

Saguru flinched almost imperceptibly. He hardly wanted to answer that question himself. He said as much.

Interested and with one eyebrow risen, Kuroba stared into the glass of water that showed him back his reflection, minus the masks.

If Saguru were completely honest with himself, he would have felt no compunction against saying that Kuroba looked as though he hadn't had a proper night's sleep in a week – or maybe even more. He could have kicked himself for not noticing earlier. It was a wonder that he hadn't injured himself before now, being like this, especially on a heist –

But then it hit him. There had been no heists since that fateful one last month. Almost exactly one month ago. The Knightmare heist. He swore softly under his breath.

"I should have known," he said bitterly. "Knightmare. I'm so sorry. I'm an idiot." Kuroba was staring. Saguru couldn't really blame him. "I did tell you that it wasn't your fault, didn't I?"

The boy on his sofa fiddled with the rim of his black cap, but didn't take it off. Not yet.

"I didn't mean to trip," he suddenly said, but the words weren't stilted or spoken fast, rather they were spoken slowly in order for the speaker to have the most time to think about what it was that he was saying. "Didn't mean to fall. If I fell, then who'd. . . ?" He trailed off, and shook his head, not finishing the thought. "But I fell. And there I was, falling, and before even I knew it, before my reflexes had a chance to react, I was remembering _then_, and _him_."

Kuroba, still hiding behind the alias of Kid for the time being, breathed slowly in and then out, in and then out. Carefully, he picked up the water and took the aspirin offered.

"I hate him, you know. Because . . . not because of who he was, or what he did, but because of what he did to all the rest of us..."

"It's not your fault.

Kuroba nodded, sharp movements that contrasted against Kid's usual graceful ones, even when compared with earlier that night.

"If it's anyone's fault," Kuroba said bitterly, "it's his. For not letting the Kid help. But then," he looked up, and shocked them both by looking in Saguru's eyes, blue to blue, "you already knew that, didn't you?"

The last had been said so quietly that Saguru almost hadn't been certain that he'd heard it, but then his mind was brought back to the present and those blue eyes were still piercing deeply into his own. And he had no other choice but to meet the thief-magician's gaze. Because for once, Kuroba Kaito wasn't hiding. These were the infamous blue eyes without the many masks, without their comforting Poker Face. These were eyes that demanded respect for what they were showing, and more importantly, why.

Kaito blinked, and Saguru found his gaze torn away abruptly, leaving him feeling strangely colder. The thief-magician's head tilted slightly sideways, eyes now full of curiosity and wonder.

"But you – when you were shouting at me earlier, it wasn't some harebrained scheme. You wanted me to use my glider. Even if I would've gotten away if it hadn't buckled under the pressure. You. . ."

Saguru sighed, and wished he had tea, if only for something to do with his hands.

"It seems that I had made my choice quite a while ago, Kuroba-kun. I would much rather have a live kaitou on my hands than a dead Kaito."

Incredulity.

"I didn't know you were one for puns, Hakuba."

With a start, Saguru realised that this was the first time that evening since Kuroba had appeared as the Kid that the thief-magician had used his family name to refer to him, instead of the more generic 'Tantei-san'. Add to that the mention of puns where the Kid would usually ridicule him for thinking that Kuroba and he were one and the same, and –

He looked back over at Kaito. The magician had stretched out on the sofa, making himself comfortable and fluffing up a cushion that Saguru was sure hadn't been there before. If he hadn't known any better, he would have said that Kaito was about to fall asleep in his presence, when only a short while earlier he wouldn't have trusted him with his face.

Saguru's eyes widened when Kaito yawned and he was proven _right_. Then the magician-thief's next words took any other kind of reaction out of his mouth.

"Watch my back for me, will ya?"

------

AN: Wanted to do a middle chapter between the first chapter and the next one that didn't have the Black Org as its catalyst material. This only seemed to get better as I wrote it. Partly inspired by Ocianne's Promenade.


End file.
